1st Walstad style/Natural style tank

After creating a vivarium for my A. opacum using native ferns, mosses, and a local ginger, I really wanted to try my hand at a completely natural, aquatic set up. So I went for it and have put together my first Walstad/Natural style freshwater aquarium in a 10 gallon. The set up is described below, and I'll post pictures tomorrow. Once the plants are settled and the tank's numbers have been established for a while, I'll use it for a (possibly two) juvenile Gulf Coast waterdogs (Necturus beyeri).

Substrate (from bottom, up):
1 in potting-soil (no chemical additives)
Light layer of larger gravel (as in only 1 piece thick)
3/4 in layer of sand

Plants:
Moneywort, Camboba, corkscrew Vallisneria, java fern. The latter is tied to a piece of terracotta, which I'm hoping it will attach itself to. I considered ordering plants from reputable growers online, but decided to restrict myself to the plants that were available at PetSmart before I tried that. The java fern aren't in good shape, and the Camboba look like they have been abused a little. I'm hoping they will all pull through. PetSmart is notorious for having snails, so I let the plants sit in cold water (10-13 deg. C) for 30 min.

Water:
Aged tap water, and probably rain water when I can get it. Right now, the tank is about 1/2 full. I thought I'd try Molch's method of letting the plants access CO2 at the surface so that they can enjoy a growth spurt.

Lighting:
I have a hood with an 18" fluorescent, 15 watt, full spectrum lamp. This gives the tank between 1-2 watts per gallon when full. We'll see if that's sufficient for the plants. It's on a timer with 11 hours of daylight, with a "siesta" for 1.5 hrs from noon to 1:30 PM. The "siesta" was someone's suggestion to help reduce/control the growth of algae.

Any suggestions? Thoughts? I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

sounds like a plan

2 thoughts:
1) letting plants sit in cold water for 30 minutes isn't gonna do anything at all to the snails. At any rate, I wouldn't worry about them. If anything, they'll help with algae control

2) I don't know much about Necturus - others who know them better may correct me - but I picture them more as a stream dweller who may like sandy or muddy bottoms with less plants and a bit of current. A densely planted tank might be better suited to pond-dwelling newts like Cynops or alpines or Triturus species...

Hey Lamb,

just a few reminders of the book (hope you read it, it is really useful).

1. Care not to use too much sand on top of the soil, as this might lead to "suffocation".
2. I don't think it is necessary to used aged tap water or rain water (however, if that suits you, theres no objection), most of the needed nutrients will be in the soil and normal tap water.
3. If you plant densely, you don't need to make a "siesta" as the plants will probably outcompete the algae. Also, I am not really sure if the siesta will be efficient in fight against algae growth.

And one personal suggestion :

I also have Bacopa monnieri (I think that is = moneywort) in my tank and it works, but is not growing as well as e.g. Hygrophila. If you let the plants come out of the surface, however, I think they will be doing fine. I observed mine growing a lot stronger after breaking the surface. They also seem to root very well.

I would like to underline Claudias question here, about the needs of Necturus, but I am not a specialist as well.

So far, hope this is right and could help
Jakob

Molch said:

sounds like a plan

2) I don't know much about Necturus - others who know them better may correct me - but I picture them more as a stream dweller who may like sandy or muddy bottoms with less plants and a bit of current. A densely planted tank might be better suited to pond-dwelling newts like Cynops or alpines or Triturus species...

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Molch, you're correct. They are stream dwellers. The two juveniles that I have were caught in medium sized streams (~3 m wide) with tannic water, lots of leaf litter, and sand. Juveniles like areas with leaflitter and driftwood, the latter of which I'm planning to add once I find a satisfactory piece or pieces (everything I have now is too large). As for the current, that is going to come in later. I'll install a filter to provide some water flow. Regarding the plants, you're also onto something there. In terms of natural vegetation, streams that I've found mudpuppies in typically only have small and large root masses exposed along the sides or bottom of the creek. Occasionally, farther downstream, there may be a cluster of broad leafed plants (not sure what they are, and they may not be native).

My current tank design (see the pictures attached, taken with my phone) doesn't match my description of mudpuppy habitat. But, what I envision for the future is a tank with about 1/3 of the surface area or so covered with vegetation, a few pieces of drift wood, current, and, if I'm daring, leaf litter. I'm planting densely now because I'm a noob to planted tanks. In your experience, can a Walstad style tank be maintained with only 1/3 to 1/2 of the tank being vegetated?

Although aquatic plants aren't typical for mudpuppy streams that I've seen, I doubt they'll hurt the mudpuppy. Also, they should be a decent stand in for the heterogeneity provided by the root masses (which will hopefully encourage the little guy or guys to move about the tank more). One concern I do have is that as the mudpuppy gets larger, it will uproot plants, but there will be a ways to go before that concern could become a reality.

Right now, the mudpuppies are each in their own, 1.5 gallon containers with a bubbler and a piece of terracotta, and they're both eating and growing nicely. The larger one understands that usually when there is a disturbance near its tank (i.e., noise, extra light, movement), that means that food is coming. It has taken to sticking out its head whenever I come by.

My tank has a forest of Vallisneria Spiralis, java moss and pennywort. The island for the landlubbers has tradescantia. I have just added Eleocharis parvula today. The base is garden soil with a thin layer of sand, I feel that it could possibly have done with being a little deeper. I have an arcadia clip on light which is on maybe 12 hours a day. There is a small population of red ramshorn snails that hitched a ride on some plant. I did have the tank set up for a couple of months with cloud minnow while I waited for the newts to become aquatic.

Molch said:

If you want only 1/3 planted, then I would also only lay down soil under that 1/3 of the tank but not the rest. The rest of the tank could have some other substrate, maybe a thin layer of sand or something?

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That's a great idea (and it cracks me up that something so logical didn't occur to me before I dove into things). I wonder how I would manage it now? Would I break down the whole tank, and carefully try to salvage the sand from the soil over the area that I don't need planted? It seems like that would be the neatest way to do things.

I've seen pictures of your gorgeous tanks, and I know that I don't want mine to be planted that densely. Perhaps if I have a tank in the future for Notophthalmus I'll go for that high of a density of green.

Last week, after checking out info on The Krib (The Krib (Aquaria and Tropical Fish)), I removed the Camboba. Apparently they can be difficult to grow. I also moved plants around, installed the filter for movement (it's on its lowest setting, so the plants sway only very slightly), and secured multiple bunches of java moss to other pieces of terracotta. What worries me is that now is that multiple Bacopa plants have yellow tips, which I've read could be an iron deficiency issue? My ammonia level is 0.25. The pH kit I got from the pet store reads 7.6, but the much more accurate YSI meter reads 7.06. My conductivity level is around 240 μS/m. Temp is 19.5 deg C and the dissolved O2 level is right at 99%.

I know it deviates from the hands-off, "el Natural" style, but I've been considering using a DIY CO2 injector (yeast fueled) to give the plants a boost and fuel their growth. Or release a few fish in the tank to up the CO2 levels. Thoughts? Suggestions? Should I just turn my back and leave the tank alone for a while? After all, it's really only been a week.

At this early point, I'd just turn your back on it. The plants may still be adjusting to their new environment. I have found that when I fret and worry less, things seem to go better overall
I also get yellow leaves on some Bacopa and some pennywort. Sometimes, when a plant manages to grow to the surface, it invests heavily in the surface leaves and discards leaves that are further down and submerged. My pennyworts are doing thet. I let them, and here and there just snip off the growing upper parts and re-plant them.

I go for a sort-of holistic approach; if overall the tank seems healthy and thriving, and the plants look like they do okay, I don't worry about a few yellow leaves or a bit of algae here and there.
Cheers!

I agree, I think you have to resist worrying about it. I trimmed and removed any dead plant matter and left it to its own devices. My tank sits beside me and I ended up putting in three white mountain cloud minnow, really for my entertainment rather the benefit of the tank, They reproduced and I ended up having to fish them all out. I had a small out brake of what may be a moss algae, but that was contained within my java moss and has sorted itself out. I have a simple aquarium clip on light on 12 hours and that's it.

Well, I've pretty much left the tank alone, aside from planting some local Hydrocotyle and adding snails, 4 small crawfish, and a local species of top minnow. The Vallis. is putting up a few new shoots per plant, as is the Hydrocotyle. The java fern on the terracotta shards aren't doing horribly, but aren't doing very well, either. Brown algae are growing on a few leaves, and green algae are growing on a few roots. Overall, they still look green, and I'm seeing a few new leaves poking out. Overall, the snails are keeping the algae in check. There is some growing on the surface of the terracotta, but you can see snail rasp marks on it, so go snails go!

I'd go ahead and release the Necturus in there...but my obsessive compulsiveness is trying to get the best of me. I like the idea of java fern in the tank with the mudpuppy, but with the Vallis. and Hydrocotyle, the tank is really starting to look better suited to a newt species. If I didn't care about trying to at least partially mimic the native habitat of Necturus, I wouldn't have a problem. But I do tend to prefer tanks that look like they should house the species they do.

I've just got to bite the bullet and decide whether I want to get over it and keep this tank planted, or break it down and make something that looks more mudpuppy-ish. I love having green in there, and I got really excited about setting up a tank with soil.